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Greek and Roman society were both heavily stratified, and many forms of dependence tied people to their superiors in *wealth, power and *status. The study of these relations is a central part of ...
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Greek and Roman society were both heavily stratified, and many forms of dependence tied people to their superiors in *wealth, power and *status. The study of these relations is a central part of ancient social history. (Classical Athens was perhaps untypical, though see patronage, literary (greek) for the *chorēgia.)Sources such as the letters of *Cicero and the younger *Pliny (2) combine with the legal evidence and epigraphy to give a more complete picture of patronage in the Roman world. In addition, the special relationship between patronus and *cliens among Roman citizens was recognized as being distinctive (e.g. Dion. Hal. Ant. Rom. 2. 9), and has received a great deal of scholarly attention.By the Augustan period it could be believed that *Romulus had assigned all the plebeians at Rome to individual aristocratic patrons. In practice, the title of cliens was odious (Cicero, Off.Less

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